THE other day I came back from Thar after a two-day visit. This was my second trip after a lapse of two-and-a-half years. I can’t help but appreciate what the government of Sindh has done in the desert.

The roads are gleaming black with bright yellow painted borders, concrete pavement on their shoulders to arrest and guide precious rain water to the shallowest point having a stone-pitched spillway.

The road bends have 3M signboards which reflect during the night. The dry ravines have neat bridges with RCC protective railing painted yellow and black. Modern machinery and equipment are being used to construct these roads.

Every crossing has a sign and village names are painted in sky-blue reflecting signboards. There was not a single bump or hump on the road and our car operated on 5th gear all along.

Tharis still herd their sheep, goats and cows on these glistening roads. They still use the 80-year-old, six-wheel drive kekda (crab) trucks for transport and live in centuries’ old thatched-roof huts. This year rains have bought joy and greenery to their lands, though it came a bit late and they could not harvest mallet, still rain is life in Thar.

Their desert is a lot greener today compared to what I saw in June of 2013. In Senhri Dars and Thario Halepoto villages not only did I see solar-powered reverse osmosis water treatment plants but they were functioning and women were filling their plastic drums with sweet water.

People looked healthier probably owing to clean drinking water, access roads and abundant food. One village elder at Senhri Dars village told me that he had seen a flock of green parrots for the first time in their desert.

After a long time I saw what the Sindh government is capable of doing.

S. Nayyar Iqbal Raza
Karachi

Published in Dawn, December 6th, 2015